Mud Volcano Found at Lake Baikal Bottom

11.03.2015

Mud volcano one kilometer height was found in the delta of the Selenga river. It was found by researchers from the Irkutsk State University expedition. The fact that at the bottom of Lake Baikal there are mud volcanoes, only became known in 2001. At the bottom of the lake there are many objects that may be mud volcanoes, but it is not yet confirmed. The discovered the volcano has already got its name «Telnyi» in honor of the railway station located nearby.

Geologists believe that these mud volcanoes may be in crack zones, but it is possible that they appear where there are gas hydrates, crystals of water and gas, which appear under the influence of low temperature and water. Typically, gas hydrates are formed in the permafrost zone. However, they are in the lake bottom sediments, where the temperature is a few Celsius degrees above zero.